Swarm Queen’s Crown, published by Fathom in late 2016, is a collection of poems loosely centered around the discovery, use, and loss of an eponymous relic—and thus the trials of exposure, non-native touch, Natural acquaintance, and self’s inherent Otherness. In “Saturn Returns,” the speaker reflects—

Sparks drew the table flowers down
into the candles
and the borders darkened:

I awoke to the dining room,
dressed, fed, my hands occupied with mail.

On the heels of Swarm Queen’s Crown‘s publication, Stephanie Adams-Santos was awarded the Oregon Poetry Community Fellowship by Literary Arts. Her first shortbook, The Sundering(PSA, 2009), was awarded a New York Chapbook Fellowship by the Poetry Society of America. Adams-Santos is also the author of Total Memory(Finishing Line, 2016).

Lambda Literary is ‘the nation’s oldest and largest literary arts organization advancing LGBTQ literature.’ Finalists for the awards were chosen from 900 submissions and more than 300 publishers. Winners will be announced this June.